‘Better rights, welfare schemes must go hand in hand for domestic help’

A public survey conducted by social media network LocalCircles has stated that better rights and welfare schemes for domestic workers must go hand-in-hand with stricter accountability from placement agencies.

Chairman and CEO of the network, Sanjay Tarparia said the results of the survey — which widely support annual mandatory paid leave of 15-30 days and monthly minimum wages ranging between ₹9,000 and ₹15,000 to full-time skilled domestic workers — are being shared with the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

More than 80% of respondents wanted all placement agencies to be registered with the Ministry.

Senior officials at the Ministry said that the Centre expects to announce a new national policy for domestic workers this month. As The Hindu reported earlier this month, the policy is likely to recommend minimum wages, work timings and leave entitlements and set up boards to register domestic workers and bring them into the social security net.

The social media network poll received about 68,000 responses from more than 20,000 people across 220 districts of India. A third of the respondents were women.

“The average income of LocalCircles members is ₹5 to ₹6 lakh per year...and all the survey questions were asked in English,” said Mr. Tarparia. “So I think it is safe to say that they are employers or prospective employers of domestic workers.”

Replace or refund

Apart from wanting placement agencies to be registered with the government, more than 90% of the respondents wanted to be assured that in case a worker leaves before the end of his or her term, the agency should refund fees or replace the worker within two weeks.

As much as 76% of respondents also wanted the agencies to provide health and life insurance to workers in exchange of 15 days of salary. While women in the organised sector are now eligible for six-month maternity leave, only 34% of the respondents felt that domestic helps should get that amount of time, with 38% favouring a three-month leave, and 20% going in favour of a month.